CHILDHOOD ILLNESSES
THE BEGINNING OF THE SCHOOL YEAR MAY SIGNAL AN INCREASE IN CHILDHOOD ILLNESSES AND CONDITIONS, BUT THE COMMUNITY PHARMACY IS THE ‘GO TO’ PLACE FOR KIDS RIGHT FROM BIRTH. SP TAKES A CLOSER LOOK AT...
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s a pharmacist, you’re probably asked for advice by parents on a regular basis. Common baby and child health miseries - everything from colic to head lice - can leave kids in considerable discomfort and parent tired, irritable and upset.
Fortunately, there are products available on the market for practically every minor ailment that affects children.
A raised temperature in a child is caused by the resetting of the body’s own natural thermostat to a higher level. in order to make the body hotter, the blood vessels on the surface of the skin become
50 - SCOTTISH PHARMACIST
much smaller to minimise the loss of heat. Once this new, higher setting of the body’s own thermostat is reached, the temperature will be higher than normal. Most parents adopt the attitude that a fever is bad for a child, but this may not always be true. A raised temperature may, in fact, be harmful to any bugs, which are causing an illness and may actually reinforce the body’s own immune system, which is fi ghting the problem. To reduce a child’s temperature, the child should be stripped down and sponged with a cool cloth. Paracetamol will not only help to reduce the temperature, but will also help to kill any pain that the child may be experiencing.
Sticky eyes or conjunctivitis is the term given to eyes, which are red and sore looking. it is usually easy to diagnose thanks to the distinctive yellow gunge on the edge of the lids, which often causes the lids to stick together after a night’s sleep. Often the infected eye is runny, red and infl amed. The condition isn’t really painful, but can cause a gritty soreness in the eye, especially when blinking. If the infection looks mild, the parent should be advised to simply bathe the eye with lukewarm will, but, if the eye looks more ‘gungey’, then you should advise the parent to go to their GP as a course of antibiotics may be required.
Head lice - a nightmare for parents at any time, but especially in September, when close proximity of little heads at nursery or school allows head lice to move easily from one head to another. (Head lice can’t hop, fl y or swim, but they’re easily transferred because young kids tend to put their heads closer to each other.) Head lice can be diffi cult to spot
on the hair, but detection combing is sure to root them out. Suggest to parents that they purchase a special, fi ne-toothed comb (there are various dedicated head lice combs on the market now) and show them how to use it by coming the hair a section at a time. The process is made simpler if hair condition is used fi rst, as head lice can move rapidly in dry hair. After each stroke with the comb, the comb teeth should be checked for lice. If there is an infestation, then recommend a head lice treatment. It may also be an idea to recommend a specifi c shampoo or treatment, which is designed to ward them off in the future.
Chickenpox - or varicella to give it its correct name - is one of the most common infectious childhood illnesses. The child will feel as if he or she has a cold or fever, then small pink bumps will spread over the whole body, developing into little water blisters. The child will be itchy and infectious until the last spot is dry. Scratching can cause
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